Trump’s one big idea

I stole this idea from Fred Clark at Slacktivist. Here: Read the original. Through all the posturing and insults and Twitter-pouts, Trump’s message boils down to:

Some people are legitimate Americans and other people — regardless of citizenship — are illegitimate and not really real Americans at all.

And that, sports fans, is precisely what has made me so uncomfortable these last 32 years while he’s been running. His core message runs counter to any sacred text I’ve ever read, ever, including my own. It runs counter to anything I was taught as an American, as well, the whole St. Emma of Lazarus poem I had to learn in fifth grade. We read (watch and hear) a lot about how this election is pivotal. Every election is pivotal, but as Fred says, if you’re voting for Trump, that is what you are voting, plain and simple: A country that closes its doors, rings its wagons, and dares any one to enter. You’re voting for an us v. them zeitgeist that will absolutely inform every single policy decision, and if you’re an “us,” shame on you for pulling the rope up after you. And God help you (as that’s the only help you’ll get) if you’re a “them.”

2 responses to “Trump’s one big idea”

I like Fred Clark generally. I think this assessment is fairly accurate, even if it ignores the psychopathology that feeds Trumpenstein’s desires. His narcissism. His sociopathy. The deviance that characterizes his behavior. (What most CEOs would call business acumen.)

And while I agree that Trump Brand™ Nationalism deviates in certain respects from the old GOP model, (he owns them now), I don’t see him as an outlier when it comes to preaching nationalist gospel. His rhetoric may be less than politically correct, and his pandering distasteful, but his message is rooted in the same notion of American exceptionalism (exemptionalism?) that informs practically every American politician from Barack Obama to David Duke.

What really makes this election unique is the American public’s general disdain for the major Party candidates. No major Party candidates have ever, at the same time, been viewed so negatively by the electorate. Especially within their own Parties. Unfavorable ratings for Trump and Clinton within their own Party range from 25-35%. That’s unprecedented. (In Clinton’s case, it could cost her the election.) And, when you think about it, really really sad.